Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, can I join in congratulating you on your elevation to the chair. I thank the member for O'Connor and acknowledge his strong contribution to good economic policy.

Superannuation is the hard-earned savings of working Australians, some $2 trillion today, growing to $9 trillion by 2040. Given the importance and the size and the scale of this sector, we need the proper governance arrangements in place. That is why this government is following through on an election commitment to improve the governance of superannuation funds by requiring a minimum one-third of directors to be independent, with an independent chair. This has been warmly received by groups like COSBOA, CHOICE, National Seniors, ASFA, AICD, FSC, BCA, ACCI and the Governance Institute.

But I am asked: are there any challenges to this approach? The biggest challenge comes from those opposite and from the Leader of the Opposition. When we announced these reforms, he said we were interfering with superannuation. But he should know better, because the previous Labor government commissioned the Cooper review to look into this issue, and the Cooper review recommended that one-third of directors, at a minimum, should be independent from the review, and that 'best practice in corporate governance…includes the presence of independent directors on the board'.

As we know, the Leader of the Opposition has a way with words. We remember, 'everybody is somebody,' 'the future is present,' and my favourite: 'If you do not know where you are going, any road will get you there.' But it has to be said, the Leader of the Opposition's speech on 16 December 2010, formally responding to the Cooper review at the Moonee Ponds Bowling Club, has to take the cake. Here were the bowlers, they came looking for the roast of the day, a bit of a play on the greens, and a simple message that their superannuation was safe, and this is what they got from the Leader of the Opposition—and I want you to listen closely. This is the Leader of the Opposition: 'A great, illuminating, egalitarian, enthusing idea that steadies the hand that rocks the cradle, and broadens the smile you bestow on a sleeping baby, knowing at least one part of the future—your future and hers—is secure. Thanks for coming today. I give you Stronger Super.'

See this speech in context